


you smell so nice (even sweeter)

by tmwshj



Category: Cravity (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Love at First Sight, M/M, Perfume, Pining, and suddenly its 3 am, and wonjin who makes poor financial decisions, i don’t know how it happened, jungmo as a reasonable best friend, okay look i had this idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28198224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tmwshj/pseuds/tmwshj
Summary: is it weird to say that someone smells nice on your first meeting? it probably is, but what if that person works at a perfumery? it cancels out, right? PEMDAS, yknow?or simply put — wonjin falls for the cute sales assistant working at the perfumery in an expensive part of town.-title from loona yyxy - love4eva
Relationships: Ham Wonjin/Song Hyeongjun
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	you smell so nice (even sweeter)

**Author's Note:**

> look, i don’t know how long this is, i wrote this on my notes app and suddenly it’s 3am and i’ve forgotten how to Use Words Good. but hey !! *slaps roof of fic* look at how much fluff i can fit in this bad boy 😎 strangely enough, this is my first time writing hamlem (i cant believe it) so i hope you enjoy! because i had lots of fun writing this :D
> 
> happy reading!

everything feels so  _ bland_.

it’s so cyclical — wake up, school, homework, sleep. wonjin’s sick of it. 

he hates how cold the world felt, oh-so-boring, no bite to any of his school days. lessons felt like a bore, the low humming of the air-conditioning lulling him into a gentle sleep along with his teacher’s monotone voice. he didn’t know what lesson he was in, the textbook on his table a gurgle of words he can’t seem to make out. 

he’s spared from his misery when the school bell rings, and along comes jungmo, his best friend and what he likes to joke as the cause of his misery. (the jokes are all in good fun, completely harmless, and jungmo gets back at him by force-feeding him tomatoes anyways.)

“sleepy?” the taller boy asks, his usual chirp evident in his voice.

“when am i ever  _ not  _ sleepy?” wonjin slurs, shoving loose papers and pencils into his school bag. he slings the bag over his shoulder and walks out the door, an excited jungmo tailing after him.

“do you have any plans today?” 

“when do i ever have plans?” wonjin jokes.

“great. wanna grab lunch?” 

wonjin doesn’t answer, opting for a short nod before getting dragged along by jungmo to the bus stop.

they arrive in the city a good half-hour later, the two teenagers opting to have their lunch at a hamburger place tucked into the wall of a small alleyway. after they finished their lunch, wonjin decides it’s finally time to ask jungmo what the latter’s motive was for dragging him all the way here.

“so...  _ hongdae _ ? are you meeting someone later?” wonjin wiggles his eyebrows, nudging the taller boy with his elbow.

“yeah right, as if anyone wants to date me,” he rolls his eyes. “there’s a new perfume store down the street. i wanted to check it out.”

“you wear cologne?” 

“always have. i can’t believe you’re just noticing it!” jungmo exclaims, scandalised. “some best friend you are.”

wonjin shrugs, following after jungmo, squeezing through a bustling afternoon crowd. “can’t blame me when all the classroom smells like is old deodorant and snuck-in food.” 

manoeuvring through the streets in hongdae proved to be quite the task, busy business people determined to get where they want to be and the street hawkers enthusiastic to finish selling their food. it’s here when wonjin realises he’s been cooped up in his room for too long, the constant chatter causing his head to whirl. but what stood out to wonjin the most was the abundance of scents spreading throughout the city centre. when they squeezed past a group of teenage girls, there was the scent of a flowery perfume; when brushing by rowdy city boys, there was the faint scent of musky cologne; when busy business people walked by while yelling into their phones, there was a whiff of stuffy offices and caffeine. 

in the city, the list goes on and on, and it’s a breath of fresh air for wonjin, his body finally loosening up after a stressful week at school.

they arrive at the highly anticipated perfumery after a hectic journey and wonjin thanks the gods that it seemed emptier compared to the bustling streets. the bell jingles lightly as jungmo enters the store, bowing curtly to the shop assistants. 

as jungmo immediately ditches wonjin, being drawn to what seemed like the newest line of some fancy, over-priced brand, wonjin decides to do some window-shopping, occasionally grabbing strips of paper and mindlessly spraying different perfumes on it.

as wonjin sprays what felt like his thirteenth sample of cologne that day, a boy approaches him, smiling.

“hi! do you have any scent in mind?” 

wonjin nearly drops the bottle of cologne he was holding (he didn’t, thank goodness — that shit had three digits on its price tag) as he comes face-to-face with one of the prettiest boys he’s ever seen. 

the boy was wearing the store’s uniform, a bland navy shirt, yet he seemed to  _ glow_. his smile was blinding (no wonder he’s in retail) and man, his eyes felt like they contained all the stars in the universe. the boy’s hair was a plain black and his hands were held politely over one another in that typical customer-service fashion. he seemed so...  _regular_ , yet wonjin couldn’t take his eyes off him. 

wonjin was starstruck.

“uh... i’m... i’m just looking around.” he manages to choke out. 

“hmm, would you be interested in getting something for yourself? i would be more than happy to help.” the boy smiles once again, and wonjin feels cupid’s arrow shoot right through his heart. 

“s-sure.” 

wonjin doesn’t know how long he and jungmo spent in that perfumery, but what he did know was that he walked out of there with a cologne he definitely didn’t need. ah, but how could he resist? how could he have resisted when that cute boy said that wonjin reminded him of the smell of roses and then proceeded to show him samples of almost all the rose-scented perfumes in the store? as wonjin walks out of the store with jungmo eyeing his bag suspiciously, wonjin curses himself for not taking a closer look at the boy’s name tag.

“you bought something?” jungmo muses. “how did the sales assistant get such a thrifty person like you to spend at least fifty dollars?”

wonjin rolls his eyes, answering jungmo’s question with another question. 

“do you wanna come back tomorrow?”

* * *

wonjin visits the day after, proudly donning the rose-scented cologne that  _ hyeongjun  _ had picked out for him the previous day. (wonjin wonders if it’s creepy for him to be addressing hyeongjun by his name, but he reasons with himself that maybe plenty of rich, overly-friendly grannies come into the store every day, addressing the sales assistants there like long-time friends. in conclusion, not _too_ creepy.)

“ah! you’re back!” hyeongjun smiles warmly, eyes crinkling while wonjin’s heart did competitive gymnastics in his chest. “how can i help you today?”

thankfully, wonjin has thought of the perfect excuse on the bus ride to the city. 

“my mom’s birthday is coming up. do you have any recommendations?”

hyeongjun furrows his eyebrows, falling into a deep thought. “does she have a favourite scent?”

“ah, not that i know of.”  _lies_.  his mom  _ loved  _ vanilla. but nevermind, the store wasn’t as busy, and wonjin’s pining ass really wanted to spend some extra time with the cute sales assistant. (again, is that creepy? or is wonjin over-thinking this?)

wonjin spends a good one hour wandering the two-storey shophouse with hyeongjun that saturday afternoon, picking out a present for his mom’s birthday that was a month away while he ignores jungmo’s texts to hurry up to go grab lunch with him. 

wonjin leaves the store that afternoon with  _ another  _ shopping bag (and seventy dollars poorer), receiving an earful from jungmo. he thanks jungmo for the company by paying for his meal and decides to return the next day to look for another scent he probably didn’t need.

on sunday, wonjin purchases a cotton body mist.

on monday, wonjin buys a lavender-scented perfume for his sister.

on tuesday, wonjin doesn’t meet hyeongjun, so he leaves empty-handed, much to the relief of his wallet, and feeling very much broken-hearted. ( _dramatic_ , he knows.)

on wednesday, wonjin returns to the store to return the cotton body mist he impulsively bought on sunday. hyeongjun simply smiles, accompanying wonjin around the store again while wonjin tried out some other scents he didn’t know the name of.

on thursday, wonjin tags along with jungmo as the latter shopped for a birthday present for his mother (not that wonjin minded though). he creates small talk with hyeongjun, the sales assistant teasing him for coming round so often. wonjin wishes he could tell him ‘ _yeah, to see you, gorgeous_ ’, but he decides against it, making up an excuse about how he always forgets to buy something while at the store. it’s true to a certain extent — hyeongjun was  _ very  _ distracting. 

it’s friday — one week since wonjin laid his eyes on hyeongjun and experienced “love-at-first-sight syndrome”, proudly dubbed by none other than koo jungmo. 

“it’s been a  _ week_, wonjin. are you seriously going to continue blowing your pocket money just to see your crush for an hour every day?” jungmo exclaims, exasperated.

when wonjin doesn’t reply, pouting at jungmo and jungmo realises that  yes, that’s exactly what ham wonjin is going to do. 

“you’ve  _ got _ to be kidding me.” jungmo clicks his tongue. “look, wonjin, it’s either you do something about it  _ today  _ or i make sure that you don’t step foot in hongdae for the next three months.”

wonjin sighs. as much as he wanted to argue with jungmo, he did have a point. he’s spent more in the past week than in the past two months, and if he buys one more perfume, he might have to start packing lunch from home. he swears, is courting someone suppose to be this expensive? 

wonjin grumbles defeatedly, “alright.”

the bus ride to hongdae was stressful. how was wonjin supposed to confess? he couldn’t go ‘hey, i’ve been buying perfumes because i like you, do you wanna go out with me?’ — now that’s just creepy. wonjin sighs, taking out the rose cologne from his bag and spritzing it onto his wrists.

he freezes. 

wait. 

he might have a plan.

* * *

“ah, welcome back. getting another gift?” hyeongjun greets, wonjin immediately noticing a fruity scent on his uniform.

“ah, not really. do you have something that’s suitable for a first date?” 

wonjin swears his eyes were tricking him when hyeongjun’s face falls for just a millisecond, but the sales assistant recovers quickly, plastering on a big smile. “i have just the one, please follow me.”

they arrive in front of a small booth decorated with different shades of pinks and white. “we will be putting away our valentine’s day collection tomorrow, so it’s great timing that you’ve come today!” hyeongjun continues to list out the different scents that the collection has to offer, but wonjin unconsciously tunes him out.

“hey,” wonjin says, stopping hyeongjun mid-sentence. “um, what about something that  _ you  _ like?” 

hyeongjun allows a hint of confusion to flash across his face, stopping in his tangent. he quickly composes himself. “ah... yes, i’ll show you.”

hyeongjun guides him to a small shelf, holding up a small bottle. “it’s a pity that it’s sold in such small bottles, but this is my personal favourite — citrus and peach.” 

wonjin smiles. “great! i’ll get that.”

hyeongjun rings wonjin up, quieter than usual, not making eye-contact with him.

“here you go,” hyeongjun hands the bag over, their fingers brushing against each other gently. “hope your date goes well!” hyeongjun lets out a small smile, and it feels a little different to wonjin. 

“thank you.” wonjin bows before pulling out the perfume out of the bag and taking it out of the box carefully. he sprays a little on his wrist and rubs it on his neck. 

hyeongjun stares at him blankly. “what are you...”

wonjin exhales, his heart thumping against his chest. 

“when do you get off work? can we grab dinner together?”

hyeongjun fiddles with his fingers.

“but what about your date?”

wonjin pauses. 

“c-can it be you?”

wonjin doesn’t dare to look at hyeongjun. he shouldn’t have confessed here. is he holding up the line? oh dear god, please don’t let him be holding up the line-

“okay.” 

wonjin looks up, and he swears he feels himself fall in love all over again. hyeongjun was wearing the same bright smile he had seen last friday, in fact, it seemed more blinding than before. 

“i get off work at five, is that alright?”

“yeah, definitely. i’ll meet you by the front of the store.” wonjin replies, sounding a little dazed.

hyeongjun giggles. “i’ll see you then, wonjin.”

wonjin raises an eyebrow. “you know my name?”

“you signed up for a membership on your first day here.” hyeongjun teases. 

“you remembered?”

“hey! i thought you were cute, alright?”

for some, one associates different smells to certain memories. however, for wonjin, all scents reminded him of hyeongjun. the perfumery had many different scents, all of which made wonjin feel all warm and fuzzy inside as he remembers his first encounter with hyeongjun. sometimes hyeongjun reminded him of a calm lavender, soothing his nerves on a stressful school day, but most of the time, hyeongjun reminded him of a citrus fruit, a pang of love and excitement in his once bland and boring life. hyeongjun was like perfume — oh-so-sweet, oh-so-enchanting, and wonjin was glad that he has him. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! we need more hamlem fics man... kudos and comments are very much appreciated, muah <3 
> 
> twt - [shjIuvr](https://twitter.com/shjIuvr)


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